WINSLOW — Lawrence High School senior Nia Irving is used to defensive attention.

The 6-foot-1 center has been getting double and triple-teamed since her freshman season. She and her teammates are pretty good at responding to those situations, too. Double Irving and she’ll find a cutter or an open shooter behind the arc. Attack the shooters and Irving will kill you in the paint.

That scenario played out over and over again Tuesday night as Winslow fell to Irving and her unbeaten teammates 62-32 in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference matchup.

Irving finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and five assists as the Bulldogs ran their record to 9-0 in Class A North. Winslow, playing in Class B North, fell to 7-2.

Irving and senior point guard Dominique Lewis have formed the backbone of the team and, along with junior Morgan Boudreau, led the Bulldogs to the state championship last year. They’re on the same track this season, albeit with a different supporting cast.

“Ever since we played Messalonskee we’ve had some trouble playing man to man,” Irving said. “We’ve had to switch out and go into zones. I think tonight we proved we’re able to step it up and play man against a good team.”

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The Black Raiders don’t have anyone to contain Irving, but take her out of the lineup and the teams are remarkably similar, both small and quick.

“We’re small,” Lawrence coach John Donato said. “We start Nia then the next girl is 5-6, then 5-4, 5-4, 5-5. Nia’s the inside glue but everybody else out there has to work on getting the ball to her or hitting the outside 3.

The Bulldogs made seven 3s — three from Lewis, two from Camryn Caldwell and one from Boudreau (11 points, seven rebounds). Lewis scored nine points and added four assists while Caldwell scored eight.

The Bulldogs led 20-13 at the end of the first quarter when the Black Raiders came out pressing full-court.

“We were expecting it,” Irving said. “We don’t like to pull the ball out and slowly run an offense. We’re kind of a run-and-gun team so we were hoping they would press so we could go up and down the court quickly.”

The Black Raiders went stone cold in the second and third periods, scoring seven points in the second and just one in the third. There were some bright spots. They forced 13 Lawrence turnovers and their second unit played pretty well.

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“Lawrence is well coached, great players so pick your poison,” Winslow coach Lindsey Withee said. “Are you going to shut down the post or are you going to give up 3s. Tonight we tried to lock down Nia and they hit some great shots.”

The Raiders trailed 32-20 at the half and were still in the game until Irving took over. She scored 13 straight points, all in the paint, to push Lawrence’s lead to 45-23 early in the fourth quarter.

Withee subbed out players five at a time and her second unit forced some turnovers but neither group was able to score. Maeghan Bernard, one of two freshman starters for Winslow, led the team with nine points while leading scorer Heather Kervin scored six.

“We’re making great progress,” Withee said. “I told the kids we don’t want to be great now, we want to be great in February. Right now we’re getting better every day and we’re content with that.”


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